Neighbor issues

I have been feeding my strays for over 6 years. I only have around 5 and all are fixed and vaccinated and I have vet paperwork as proof.

Although some of my neighbors are dog lovers we havent had anyone complain ever about it as they see we dont have many cats and the ones we do have are are fairly social and they see me brushing and playing with them.

Today our next door neighbor who moved in a few years ago came over and made a complaint against us. Long story short he is rich and wants to have the best house on the block and complains about the looks of our house that it ruins his property, he doesnt care about us as neighbors and does anything he wants without considering other people.
He said that he is seeing multiple raccoons in our yard eating the cat food at night, yes that means he is watching our yard from his window, creepy!
He said a bunch of neighbors complained and sent letters to the town about the problem, the town said there is nothing they can do raccoons are wild animals and go where they please and heck with no woods of course they will smell our garbage and come for food. He told us to not feed our cats at night because the raccoons go in his yard becuase of the food out. First of all, there is no food in his yard, if the coons go there, it's because they are just going through each yard here, like they have been doing for years and years. Second, right behind his yard is a tree where they sleep during the day, yet he does not ask the neighbor to cut down the tree where they are resting, becuase he cant its against the law. So I feel he is just picking on us for no reason ordering us what to do on OUR property.

Around here (NY) raccoons are everywhere and with almost no natural woods they infest yards and look for scraps of food, perfectly normal for our area. They are considered wild animals and unless suspicion of rabies, you cant kill,trap, or harm them they are protected. We havent had a rabies scare in over 20 years.

We knew about the raccoons, they jsut eat the leftover scraps the cats missed or that spilt on the ground, the cats avoid them and they avoid the cats, first sight of us the raccoons run away so they are not "tame" like we are feeding them purposely, were not.

However, our neighbor owns multiple dogs and since moving here the cats are scared to come around when the dogs are out, so most of their eating is during the night. He leaves his dog outside all night so it barks at night and wakes me up. I hate what happened as it used to be no dogs around here and very quiet, now its noisy and the cats are always getting chased off and scared. I feel bad for them but I cant stop someone from owning dogs.

So now why should my cats suffer and not be fed at night becuase he has raccons going through his yard? There is repellent you can spray, but he wont cause of his dogs, so thats his problem, not mine he wont try that.

I live with my parents but I am an adult, but this infuriates me and I am mad my cats suffer, my parents ordered me to remove all food at night now, but now my cats will not be eating well due to this.

my neighbor is trying to control my house and I think he is wrong.

Plus, we have a mom raccoon who left foot was broken off after she was hit by a car and survived, so all this visiting was so she would survive and feed her babies, thats why they have been here so often, and injured mom with 4 babies, I feel bad for the raccoons they are just trying to survive too and that explains why she has been hiding here, protecting babies from local male raccoons. once winter comes my neighbor wont see them, they hibernate then.

What should I do? I like all animals and do not want any to suffer because of my neighbor.

I have the same problem with the raccoons at night. Since that neighbor leaves his dog out all night long then the cats won't eat either at night because the dog is out right? I now only feed my ferals in the morning and then again about four in the afternoon. And only add more food if the morning food is gone and only add a small amount at the four o'clock feeding. Believe me, the cats will learn to come for food in the morning. It may take a few days for them to change their schedule but they will if they are hungry. Put the feeding shelter on the opposite side of the house from your neighbor away from the dogs. You can move the bowls slowly over a couple of days so the ferals know you are moving them. Believe me, they will find the food. I had to do this too. And now my ferals know to come for food in the morning. I also have a couple of neighbors complaining about the ferals. I just tell them that I if I had not TNRd them then we would have many, many more cats around. I also ask them if they would like to donate to the cause, because I have stopped the breeding of the feral cats in our neighborhood by getting them fixed thus decreasing the number of cats. It also stops other cats from coming into the territory because the TNRd cats take up residence and keep other cats at bay. Good luck with all of this

Our food bowl is on our backyard steps as we have an aiming to protect food in case it rains, and a bowl in our backyard for the more shy cats who don't like coming in our steps. At least 2 of our cats, females, mostly come at night due to our male cats chasing them away. They are all fixed. So if we can't put food out at night, they won't eat, and these cats were raised indoors for the first year of life, so they never had to hunt for food. F
When I had no idea they were being chased by the males I noticed they got so thin and that's when I started feeding at night, and it helped.

The raccoons go to both the steps and yard for food, the food is well away our neighbors yard but the yards here are so small the dogs bark is very loud and scares them anyway. And if my neighbor wasn't spying on us, he should have no idea when and where we have food out, this whole situation is invasion of privacy and rights.

First off these are not strays-they are your outside cats you must protect. I would go with the flow for the moment as if he gets any more angry who is to say he won't trap or poison them or try to get animal control involved to create some no cats allowed to be off owners property law.

The cats will adjust to the feeding time/place. If you have a table with support in only the middle it may be possible to feed the cats on that without the racoons eating the food(feral cat caretakers use these/build own stations that are racoon proof)

Is there a chance hes looking to sell and thats why he came around now looking and had left you be up till this point?

I would look into that kind of table if you can only feed at night. Otherwise, the racoons will always get to the food first and the cat's won't be able to eat anyway. I am sorry about your situation and feel bad for these cats, I really do.....

If his dogs are barking at night, call in a complaint to the police. There are noise ordinances in most cities. We had to do that with our neighbor and finally, after the umpteenth dozenth time she got the hint and we've had no issues for several months now.

You do need to build a shelter that is raccoon proof for the feeding. Honestly, I wouldn't be happy either if raccoons were coming in to my yard because of something my neighbor was doing, either. Sorry.

The cats get to the food first because I put it our right at dusk before the raccoons which come around 10 pm.

My neighbor is not selling, I wish he was....

What type of table are you tallking about? All I can picture is a gigantic outdoor table which we cant even fit in our yard, and a small table will just be knocked over by the raccoons.

I was looking for a feeder only cats can eat from and raccoons cant fit in, sort of like how they have feeders squirrels cant fit their head in but birds can. That way im feeding my cats only at night and everyone will be happy.

Is there any repellent raccoons dont like but wont bother cats, like a spray? Just to put by (but not on) the food only so it smells bad to the coons. If they come in my yard but dont go after the food than thats fine, they will never go away we've had them for over 20 years, thats before we had any pets at all.

Would it be possible to go take the food up after the cats eat? They aren't coming after the raccoons because there wouldn't be anything left. If you could just go pick it up when the cats are done I think your problem might fix itself.

http://www.thewildones.net/raccoons.htm

see how the table just has the one bar not a leg in each corner...

I have 2 outside cats ft and some strays who wander around(TNR the ones who I can) I remove the food as its safer for the cats, and I am more concerned about the skunks/cats here. Last thing I would want is (more) attention/issues to my cats.

Are all your cats up to date on rabies? I know you say its not an issue but if your cat bites him(say he corners it) you will have alot easier time with a cat whos already up to date then if its not. You have potential to lose all the cats if something like that should happen.

I see what you mean about the table, too bad I dont know anyone who could built that. And yes they are up to date on rabies shots.


Yes the raccoons are attracted to the cat food, but what im also trying to explain is there is a surplus number of raccoons here, even BEFORE I ever had stray cats. There is garbage everywhere from other houses and the raccoons eat that at night, so they were here long before my family was and always will be. Plus people grow vegetables, fruit, and fruit trees, which raccoons also eat, does that mean we cant grow vegetable gardens, no of course not and we have to put garbage out and even if they cant open the garbage they still are attracted here to it, and raccons will eat "natural" foods in our yard like beetle grubs, worms, seeds, and the like, so they will still visit everyones yard anyway and my neighbor does not get that, he just wants to put the blame on my family just to point fingers and think they will be gone for good if we stop feeding at night, which is untrue.

We are going to try removing food at night for a few days and see if it helps any. If it does not (and I guarantee the coons will still come around) then I hope my neighbor does not get furious and insist stop feeding the cats as he will be mad the raccoons arent going away even though it's not our fault now if they come by, if the food is not out he cant blame us.

I have a right to feed cats it's not against the law here and I own the cats technically I have rabies tags for them all and vet paperwork, just like pet cats. I even have a house built for them outside to sleep in. The opening is small enough the raccoons cant fit in it but cats can. Plus the law here is cats are free roaming, meaning they can go in other yards, it's dogs that cannot be loose. My Mom works for the town actually and knows the laws and this guy has broken 4 laws here already and if he persists with this we are going to report him for harassment and with the laws he breaks, he has harrassed us ever since moving here and we want it to stop now.

Originally Posted by jessicaromano

I have a right to feed cats it's not against the law here and I own the cats technically I have rabies tags for them all and vet paperwork, just like pet cats. I even have a house built for them outside to sleep in. The opening is small enough the raccoons cant fit in it but cats can. Plus the law here is cats are free roaming, meaning they can go in other yards, it's dogs that cannot be loose. My Mom works for the town actually and knows the laws and this guy has broken 4 laws here already and if he persists with this we are going to report him for harassment and with the laws he breaks, he has harrassed us ever since moving here and we want it to stop now.

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Right you are . I would definitely look in to harrassment charges against this guy. And it is ridiculous that he is blaming you for all of the raccoon invasions in your neighborhood. Whether or not you feed those cats at night or not, the raccoons will still be living amongst your neighbors and searching for a food source. Again, much luck and isn't that raccoon proof feeding station just great??? I wish I could make on myself. I just can't feed my ferals at night, the raccoons just push them out of the way and eat all of their food.

I feed a lot of ferals on my property. To discourage raccoons from eating the food, I pick it up for the night. The cats do well this way too. During the winter, when there is very low raccoon activity, I leave the food out all night. If you have no city ordinance about feeding these cats, I would tell your neighbor to pound salt. It is your property and your right to feed these cat as you wish. Picking up the food during the night will help eliminate the raccoon problem, since they will not have the food source. If the cats are pooping and peeing on your neighbor's property, I can see that being an issue. However, the ferals I feed seem to stay on my property for the most part.